Since his wife's death, world-famous author Ford Newcombe has lived a solitary life, void of creativity - or love. Then Jackie Maxwell tears down the walls of his isolated world with her sassy wit and fierce intelligence. Ford's heart is touched by his vivacious assistant - and his imagination sparked by her knowledge of a strange story that drives them to a small North Carolina town brimming with secrets.

The Mulberry Tree

For nearly 20 years, quiet, unassuming Lillian Manville has devoted herself to her self-made billionaire husband - and enjoyed a luxurious life of splendid homes, trips, jewels, and clothes. But when James Manville dies in a plane crash, Lillian's grief is compounded by a shocking mystery: All that Jimmie has left to her is an old farmhouse in tiny Calburn, Virginia. Now, Lillian's unexpected circumstances are leading her to a made-over life in Calburn, an exciting business - and a sweet new love with a handsome local man. But will she have the courage to unveil the truth?

First Impressions

Eden Palmer knows how to make it on her own. This 45-year-old single mother has worked hard to raise her beloved daughter, Melissa, who has long been the jewel of her life. But there comes a time when a mother must come into her own. So Eden moves to Arundel, North Carolina, to take ownership of Farrington Manor. Her move is met with delight in some quarters, and jealousy in others....

Secrets

When Cassandra Madden was 12 years old, she fell in love with Jefferson Ames, a young man she met at one of her mother's business conferences. When she grew up, she went to college and even met a man she thought she'd marry, but Jeff was still in her head. She broke off her near engagement and went to Williamsburg, Virginia, where she secretly got herself a job as a nanny to the widowed Jeff's young child.

The Blessing

When wealthy, hard-driving corporate genius Jason Wilding reluctantly takes a break from his business and his husband-hunting girlfriends for a Christmas visit to his hometown in Abernathy, Kentucky, he has no idea what his physician brother, David, has in store for him. It seems that Amy Thompkins, a whimsical young widow with definite artistic talent, has captured David's heart, but courting her with a demanding baby in tow has been difficult. In order to pursue her, he persuades Jason to move into her home and take care of her spoiled but adorable son, Max, for a week.

Ever After: A Nantucket Brides Novel, Book 3

Life is anything but perfect for Hallie Hartley, a young physical therapist who has given up nearly everything - even her love life - for her beautiful blonde stepsister, Shelly. Though Shelly's acting career has never taken off, she has certainly perfected the crocodile tears to get what she wants - which all too often means Hallie's boyfriends. When Hallie arrives home early from work one fateful day, she makes two startling discoveries that will turn her life upside down.

Temptation

The year is 1909, and Temperance O'Neil is a woman ahead of her time. At 29, she is happily married to her work helping single mothers on the streets of New York. Unfortunately, Angus McCairn - her new stepfather - controls the purse strings to her substantial inheritance. Angus insists she quit her career and live in his house in Edinburgh. Temperance heads to Scotland with one mission - to drive Angus crazy.

Change of Heart

Eli and Chelsea lost touch with each other over the years, until Eli bought a house in his father’s hometown of Edilean, Virginia, and invited Chelsea for a visit. She had her own life, and was certain that a childhood friendship couldn't be anything more, but she went nonetheless - and found herself quite unprepared for the changes she saw in Eli. And neither of them were prepared to run into a mystery, with a family that needed to be rescued.

The Summerhouse

Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn 40. Celebrating at a summerhouse in Maine, Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott are taking stock of their lives and loves, their wishes and choices. But none of them expect the gift that awaits them at the summerhouse: the chance for each of them to turn their "what-might-have-beens" into reality....

Moonlight Masquerade: Edilean, Book 8

After being abruptly jilted, Sophie Kincaid flees to the place her friend Kim Aldredge calls heaven on Earth. But Sophie’s first taste of Edilean is far from heavenly: After her car breaks down on a country road, she is nearly run over by a speeding sports car. A small act of revenge brings some satisfaction, and word quickly spreads that a gorgeous newcomer gave the driver, the notoriously bitter Dr. Reede Aldredge, a dressing down! But it isn’t the first time the fiery artist has gone too far for payback; a secret possession she carries with her could shatter her ex-boyfriend’s future.

Scarlet Nights

Engaged to the charming and seductive Greg Anders, Sara Shaw is happily anticipating her wedding in Edilean, Virginia. The date has been set, the flowers ordered, even her heirloom dress is ready. But just three weeks before the wedding, Greg gets a telephone call during the night and leaves without explanation. Two days later, a man climbs up through a trapdoor in the floor of Sara’s apartment, claiming that he is the brother of her best friend and that he’s moving in. While Mike Newland is indeed telling the truth about his identity, his reason for being there reaches far deeper.

Moonlight in the Morning

Sparks are flying between Jecca Layton and Dr. Tristan Aldredge. At the urging of her dear friend Kim, Jecca put the ruthless New York City art world on hold to spend the summer pursuing her passion for painting while enjoying Edilean’s tightly knit artistic community. For years, Kim’s cousin Tris - the town’s handsome and dedicated doctor - felt a deep connection to Kim’s college “sister” Jecca, though they had met only once before; now, Jecca is swept off her feet by this strong, sensitive man in a summer of sensual delights.

Legend

Petite Kady Long, a celebrated chef about to be married to a gorgeous man, felt she was the luckiest woman alive. But when she tried on an antique satin wedding dress, she was overcome with dizziness. When she opened her eyes, Kady was in the harsh, sunlit landscape of 1873 Legend, Colorado. There, she meets Cole Jordan, a tall, rangy, and very appealing man.

Heartwishes: Edilean Series, Book 5

Gemma Ranford wants the job cataloging the documents of the Frazier family so much that she is ready to do battle to get it. Fascinated with history, and desperately trying to finish her dissertation, she's hoping against all hope that the papers will yield new information to invigorate her research. What she didn't expect to find is references to the Heartwishes Stone - believed by most to be pure legend - and said to grant wishes to anyone named Frazier. As Gemma learns more about the family - and even begins falling in love with the eldest son, Colin - it becomes clear that their wishes are actually granted.

Mountain Laurel

Captain Ring Montgomery is assigned the unpleasant task of escorting opera singer Maddie Worth into the Colorado gold fields. But when passions flare - turning a simple assignment into something more - a well kept secret threatens to tear them apart.

Someone to Love

After three years, Jace Montgomery is still grieving over his fiancée Stacy's mysterious suicide. He hasn't been interested in another woman since her passing, and her family still blames him for her death. While flipping through one of her old paperbacks, Jace discovers a photo of a house stuck between the pages, bearing the cryptic message "Ours again. Together forever. See you there." The note was dated the day before her death. Obsessed with trying to understand Stacy's suicide, Jace seeks out the property....

Stranger in the Moonlight

In the second novel in her best-selling Edilean trilogy, Jude Deveraux returns to the idyllic Virginia town where three best girlfriends joyfully reunite as they each seek out their heartfelt dreams and desires.

The Scent of Jasmine

Catherine Edilean Harcourt has no lack of suitors at home in Virginia, waiting to fulfill her dream of marriage and family. But Cay’s adventurous spirit, fostered by growing up with her three brothers, is piqued while visiting her godfather in South Carolina. Bedridden with a broken leg, he asks Cay to fill in for him on an urgent task: on her way to a fancy dress ball, she must deliver a packed horse to an old friend’s son - who also happens to be an escaped convict charged with murdering his wife!

Lavender Morning

Jocelyn Minton is a woman torn between two worlds. Her mother grew up attending private schools and afternoon teas, but she married the local handyman. After her mother died when Joce was only five years old, her father remarried into his own class, and Joce became an outsider - until she met Edilean Harcourt. Although she was sixty years Joce's senior, Miss Edi was a kindred soul who understood her like no one else ever had. When Miss Edi passes away, she leaves Joce all her worldly possessions, including an eighteenth-century house and a letter with clues to a mystery that began in 1941.

For All Time: A Nantucket Brides Novel, Book 2

The wedding of Alix Madsen and Jared Montgomery is a glorious affair at an elegant little chapel in the woods, followed by dinner and dancing, all while moonlight blankets the festivities in a romantic glow. While most guests are fixed on the happy couple, Jared’s cousin Graydon can’t look away from a bridesmaid, Toby Wyndam. It’s not just her quiet beauty that enthralls him or the way she makes him laugh. Toby possesses the truly remarkable ability of being able to distinguish Graydon from his identical twin brother, Rory.

True Love: Nantucket Brides Trilogy, Book 1

Just as Alix Madsen is finishing up architectural school, Adelaide Kingsley dies and wills her, for one year, the use of a charming 19th-century Nantucket house. The elderly woman's relationship to the Madsen family is a mystery to the spirited Alix - fresh from a romantic breakup - but for reasons of her own, Alix accepts the quirky bequest, in part because it gives her time to plan her best friend's storybook wedding.

Holly

At the tender age of 13, Holly fell in love with Lorrie Beaumont, who inherited the Revolutionary-period estate when his heiress mother died during childbirth. Though more than a decade has passed since Holly last locked eyes with her childhood love, the passion she felt in her young heart has never come close to extinguishing - that is, until charming, ruggedly handsome Nick Taggert unexpectedly waltzes into her life and treats her to an unforgettable weekend of laughter and intense passion.

A Knight in Shining Armor

Once upon a time...as a fair maiden lay weeping upon a cold tombstone, her heartfelt desire was suddenly made real before her: Tall, broad of shoulder, attired in gleaming silver and gold, her knight in shining armor had come to rescue his damsel in distress.... Hailed worldwide as one of the most romantic novels of all time, Jude Deveraux's dazzling best seller "will capture your heart - and hold it" (Daily Herald, Chicago) with its breathtaking tale.

Days of Gold

In 1766 Scotland, the laird of the clan, Angus McTern, has everything he wants in life. That is, until Edilean Talbot shows up. Breathtakingly beautiful and born of privilege, Edilean represents everything Angus despises. Still, she dazzles him, and when Angus can no longer hide his feelings, she rejects him, leaving him deeply wounded and humiliated. Soon, though, Edilean needs his help....

Publisher's Summary

Since his wife's death, world-famous author Ford Newcombe has lived a solitary life, void of creativity - or love. Then Jackie Maxwell tears down the walls of his isolated world with her sassy wit and fierce intelligence. Ford's heart is touched by his vivacious assistant - and his imagination sparked by her knowledge of a strange story that drives them to a small North Carolina town brimming with secrets. There, they will trace the mystery of a woman said to have loved the devil himself... and discover not only the truth about a crime from the past - but a passion that holds the promise of a new life together.

Jude Deveraux, whose "enchanting and extraordinary" (Chicago Daily Herald) novels have enthralled millions, creates two of her most memorable characters in this powerful best seller.

Although I was sucked into the story I'm not used to to the devil and darkness of the devil and him making light of the death of people that just doesn't seem like something Jude Deveraux generally writes about so there was minimal love story but the majority of the book was about death and liteterally the devil. I had to check my audible to make sure this was a Jude Deveraux book

someone who has the time to sit and wait for the narrator to get to the point.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jude Deveraux? Why or why not?

yes to the book and no to the narrator

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Blaise reading, boring, no energy

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

disappointment

Any additional comments?

this has happened before that when you purchase a book and whatever the cost you expect to have the Professional narration to be done with emotion. Boring to listen to narrator makes for unhappy customers!

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